Let me get this straight: some guy is killed but comes back to life after they put his body in a sealed cave and now we get to live forever? And we call that Easter?

Not exactly. But kinda.

People of faith make all sorts of claims that a responsible, reasonable person should not believe. Turning water into wine requires grapes and yeast and a lot of time; it simply does not happen in an instant. Returning sight to a blind person requires a lot of training, surgery, and transplants; it simply does not happen without medical expertise. Bringing someone back from the dead – well that just does not happen. And yet Christians, folks who follow in the ways of someone who walked the Earth some 2,000 years ago, make these claims about Jesus. 

And to most of us, these claims seem absurd. 

Well that’s true for Christians as well. Some of us say these are just stories, the stuff of literature. Some of us say they are metaphors: that Jesus helps us to see things anew. Some of us say that he must have used a long-lost art of healing. Others say these things happened just as they are written. It’s the evident impossibility that proves the depth of God’s love. Here at James Bay United Church we have all of it from those who outright reject the Bible to those who say it’s the sacred Word of God.

But let’s back up a moment because context matters. Jesus was a Jewish peasant who grew up and ministered at a time when Israel was under Roman occupation and dictatorship. As a rule, Jews did not enjoy the benefits of citizenship. Arbitrary execution was common (on a particular gruesome day, the Roman Empire crucified some 500 people), especially on suspicion of insurrection. 

Jesus and his rag-tag gang of students refused to accept that suffering, marginalization, and death were the final answer. Surely, they believed, God’s love was great enough to free all of us. Romans could be free from their incessant need to acquire more land and more wealth. Jews and non-citizens could be free from occupation. We could all be free from whatever held us back; we could all thrive.

These days we see common themes: nations occupying other nations, the wealthy seeking ever more wealth control, people seemingly deprived of the awareness of love and grace. 

When we gather on a Sunday morning, or for guitar choir on a Monday night, or jazz on a Tuesday night, or for community choir on a Wednesday evening, or for a community meal on a Thursday afternoon, we don’t tell these seemingly absurd stories. Instead, we live them. We live as if resurrection is real, as if each of us gets new life. We live as if Jesus heals us. We live as if joy abounds. Even though there is darkness in the world and we need to acknowledge it, each of us is indeed free to receive love and free to love. 

The Easter message is actually quite simple: as the flowers and trees awaken from their winter slumber, new life comes to us as well. Our task is to live as if we are granted a new life at every moment.

(This article was prepared for James Bay Beacon, April 2026)